Some things never change...
by Rose Black
Summary: This is my first story. Please be kind.
1. Cimorene

*note: this is my first installment, and with some support (or without it) the next one will come out soon.

"Cimorene, are you awake?" said Telemain. "Cimorene!"

Cimorene opened one eye. Since she had this special power that nobody else had, she had to take these magic lessons with her father, Telemain. However, being her father didn't make him any less strict.

"Cimorene, can you give me two examples of when a communicative mirror spell would not work? That is what we were talking about!" Next to Cimorene, Shaana giggled. Her parents (Prince Daystar and Princess Shiara) thought that it would be good for her to take lessons too, because she had very different magic also. She used a combination of fire-magic and the Enchanted Forest kind (Mendanbar and Daystar's kind), which meant that she used "threads" of magic, but her hair burst out in flames when she was angry. And most typical spells didn't affect her, which was helpful, as Cimorene was liable to cast unintentional spells when she least wanted to (and when she did).

Telemain was looking irritated, so Cimorene said quickly, "Right. Um, when the mirrors are incompatible or another spell interferes with the, uh…"

"Locators."

"Locators, right. The interfering spell would have to be exceptionally strong to block it, and would have to be made by a few magic users working in unison." They usually took their lessons in the library of the castle, because it gave Telemain another excuse to study magic, and let him "impress upon the children how lucky they are to have their extraordinary talents."

"All right, Cimorene, but now stay awake," said Telemain. "And now let's review a bit. To cast a mirror spell, locators must be cast in order to ensure that the quantum triangulations of the mirror…" Cimorene started to doze off again.

? c d @

After their magic lesson, Cimorene and Shaana had a lesson on "court stuff", as they called it, taught by Willin. It was exceptionally boring, as usual, but, they conceded, in the long run it would probably be worthwhile. They were studying the different types of bowing used in (most) courts (not the Enchanted Forest one), and took a test on embroidering rosebuds; the correct colors, shading, material, and stitches. Queen Cimorene―the way that they were told apart (as in names; they looked quite different), was that Queen Cimorene was called Cimorene, and Cimorene the younger was called Rine―said that "even though she never liked princess lessons, they would eventually help out."  Willin wouldn't leave them alone if they didn't get "a proper education."

Queen Cimorene gave a lesson in cooking before dinner, on the principal that they would do even better if they had to eat what they made. This wasn't bad at all, as the Queen was a very nice person who was never boring. She really stayed young, considering that she was almost 60 and her hair was still jet black. During dinner, everybody came and ate together, despite Willin's insistence that he shouldn't be there. "Nonsense," Mendanbar would say. "You're one of the family."

? c d @

Cimorene and Shaana got to bed late― they frequently spent the night at the other's house or castle― but the next morning they were up at three. "Come on," begged Shaana. "Tell me where we're going."

"Of course I won't, you'll see when you get there," said Cimorene. "It took me _hours_ to find it when you had the measles, and then you gave them to me so I couldn't show you. So you can wait!" By now they had reached the Great Hall. Cimorene walked up to the wall on the outer side (the Great Hall wasn't in the center where it was supposed to be) and touched one of the bricks. It glowed a bright green, then a section of wall large enough for the two 13 year olds to walk through. As they emerged into the dim outside, Shaana remarked, "This doesn't look like the Enchanted Forest…"

End of First Installation

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	2. Antorell

Shaana remarked, "This doesn't look like the Enchanted Forest."

""You know what? I think so too," said Cimorene. "Let's go back." But the door had closed in behind them, leaving only the dark trees. "This didn't happen before," she said slowly. "Last time, I ended up at the basement, I think, in this weird room with some strange stuff everywhere…" Two people dropped out of the air. They looked like wizards, because of the large staffs they were carrying. One had a large hood on which almost entirely covered his face, and seemed to be quite old. The other was much shorter, and much younger.

"Are you sure these are the ones?' said wizard #2. "And what's the point? You won't explain it to me!" He looked around annoyedly. "Besides, you said that you'd teach me that mirror spell."

"Quiet, Zemenar. They are here so we can take revenge on Cimorene and Daystar," snarled the older wizard.

"Why do you want revenge on me and Daystar?" asked Cimorene. "I've never seen you before in my life, and I'm not even related to Prince Daystar."

"What? Oh, not _you_, the _Queen_ Cimorene. She knows me all right, although I doubt she believes that I still am alive," answered wizard #1. "My name is Antorell."

Cimorene gasped inwardly. They had learned about wizards in their history lessons from Willin, and they were usually particularly nasty when they got to Antorell. His father was Zemenar, Head Wizard of the Society of Wizards, until Kazul, the King of Dragons, ate him. Everyone thought that Antorell was dead, but they weren't totally sure, since his death was not witnessed. Apparently, it never happened.

__

~This doesn't sound too good,~ thought Cimorene. ~_How can we get to the Queen in time?_ _ From what I've heard of Antorell, he's been pretty much ineffective, but this apparently changed when he almost_ _died_.~ For good measure, Cimorene asked tentatively, "Why exactly _are_ you trying to get revenge on Cimorene and Daystar?"

"Because of this!" cried Antorell. He threw back his hood, revealing a face that was heavily scarred and made almost unrecognizable. Shaana screamed, making Antorell turn and look at her.

"See, do you see now, what your precious Cimorene and Daystar did to me? I can no longer show my face in public without people staring and staring at me, with or without this hood! When they threw me to the demons, the demons tried to catch me, to kill me! I'm lucky I escaped with what's left of my face! All thanks to them!" he burst out, causing Shaana to shudder.

"But you deserved it!" said Cimorene, wondering at her own bravery. "You tried to kill them many times over, and so it's your own fault if you got almost killed by the demons!"

"What?" screamed Antorell, when Zemenar broke in with, "You tried to kill them? You said that they sent the dragons, covered with really good invisibility spells that only a wizard who had been practicing magic for 250,000 years would be able to detect, came in and attacked him! You said that your face was from when you discovered that it was them, they bound you to a stack of fresh meat and sent you to Null for the demons to feast on!"

"Silence!" roared Antorell. "Are you prepared to take the words of a 13 year old child more seriously than that of your father's? Be quiet, and realize when you are being fed a lie!"

"But that's a lie!" shrieked Cimorene. ""You tried to kill Cimorene because of some stupid revenge, and then when you conjured a demon to kill Daystar, because he was related to Cimorene, he sent you to Null, by accident! You probably came back and told so many lies that the whole wizarding world thinks that they tried to destroy the whole world and you saved it!" She was trembling now, shaking from head to toe with rage at Antorell. Both she and Shaana knew that there was a possibility that the people at the castle, from Mendanbar down to the gargoyle, practically, would trace the magic down to the door that they used to get wherever they were, and then Antorell and Zemenar would kill all of them! But if Cimorene's magic was untraceable, which it probably was, being so obstinate in doing the worst it could at any given time, then nobody would come and the wizards might kill them, instead! They were contemplating this when Antorell lifted his staff and the world disappeared in a flash of light…

End of Part Two

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	3. Default Chapter Title

*note: due to the reviews I have received, 'Rine will be called by her nickname, 'Rine. Zemenar will remain the same. To tell the difference, the other one's dead. Thank you.

The world re-appeared in another flash of light. Now they were in the Enchanted Forest.

"Huh?" said Antorell. "We are supposed to be at Society…I mean, we are going from here to get the poison. Once it gets to the castle, the entire population there will die!" He smiled nastily. "And it grows right here. See this?" He held up a small round, clear berry. "After I send this to the castle, and set it to crush at a certain time, a fog will come out, killing any people who breathe it in. Soon, no one at the castle will be alive!"

'Rine was about to say something to this horrible pronouncement, when a large streak of fire appeared, followed by a large dragon.

"ACHOO!" it roared. The dragon had three horns, showing it to be a female. Her scales were blue-ish gold and mostly round, and her tail was fairly long.

"WIZARDS!" she roared, and blew a column of fire at Antorell and Zemenar. Antorell made a pass with his staff and disappeared, while Zemenar simply rolled out of the way, making his staff disappear at the same time.

The dragon stopped mid-sneeze. "Where'd that wizard go?" she inquired suspiciously. "And what happened to that one's staff? And…who are you?"

"My name is 'Rine," replied 'Rine. "This is my friend, the Princess Shaana, and _this_" she intoned _this_ with deep disgust "is Zemenar, a wizard." 

"Wait, 'Rine," said Zemenar hesitantly, his eyes downcast. "I'd like to explain myself.

"First, I am not, technically, a wizard. Yes, I do have a staff and I use wizard spells but I'm not a wizard at all. My staff has a blocking spell put on it so that it doesn't trap magic. I only use wizard spells because I don't know any others.

"Second, _I_ don't want to be a wizard. _Dad_ wants me to." He scowled. "_I_ want to be a magician. or create my own kind of magic. Using, I mean." He lifted his head. "Do you think that you could help me find a magician, maybe? I'm really sorry about everything my Dad did, and I wouldn't get in the way, you could just drop me off with the first magician you find. Please?"

"Will you wait a minute?" said Shaana crossly. "You obviously don't know anything about dragon etiquette, so shut up!"

"Thank you, Shaana," said the dragon. "However, since you are so young, I will make an exception." Seeing the startled expression on Shaana's face, she added, "I am thought of as a little strange by dragon standards; a little less straight and a good deal more peculiar. But back to the point. My name is Quella."

"Pleased to meet you, Quella," said 'Rine. "by the way, could you get us, all of us, back to the castle? It's the one in the center—well, not in the exact center, but that's pretty close, and if you get us there we can find our own way back, but—"

Quella cut in with a laugh. "Peace, little one. I know where the castle is. i was heading there myself when I felt a large flare of magic." She saw Shaana open her mouth, and answer the unasked question. "I was going there because my grandmother, King Kazul, recommended Queen Cimorene's cherries jubilee. I wanted to try some for myself."

"Well, said 'Rine. "I'm fairly sure that she'll give you as much cherries jubilee as you want if you help us back home." She couldn't help thinking about how this was the dragon who had helped save King Mendanbar from the wizards.

"I'm glad. My grandmother gave me the recipe and I made it, and it was _delicious_. I had to try the master's work. Now, back to business. We're going to get back to the castle with a spell because I can't carry all of you. Since you are all magic users, we might all have to work together," said Quella.

"Wow," whispered Zemenar. "A dragon spell. A real dragon spell." At the looks from the girls he added defensively, "I told you Dad won't let me study any other kinds of magic. And all the people I know are wizards." Then he smiled. "And I can help work it." He walked over to Quella. "So let's start."

_ _ _

2 hours later, when all the plants and various other articles needed for the spell were collected, the spell began. It took about 15 minutes to set it up, and then Quella said:

__

"Ways of wind and earth and fire,

take us to the King's Tower."

There was a rush of sound and light. 'Rine felt like an ocean was roaring in her ears while she was inside a tornado. Then she heard Quella's voice say, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't calibrate it to your size! Well, here we are!" and they dropped onto the hard floor of the throne room. It was just dawn, and someone was asleep in the throne. It was Morwen.

"Mom!" yelled 'Rine. Morwen opened her eyes. 

"'Rine! She shouted. "You're back! Nobody knew where you were—thought you were dead—lost forever—just disappeared," she said through her tears. At the same time she was hugging 'Rine and Shaana as hard as she could. Zemenar was standing off to the side awkwardly. "Cimorene! Telemain! Mendanbar! Shiara! Daystar! They're back!"

"But not for long," snarled a familiar voice. Antorell had appeared, and was holding the poison-berry. "I don't really care about my own life, apparently, as much as getting rid of all of you—" He was cut off by Zemenar leaping onto him and bringing him to the ground. "No!" he yelled, trying to wrestle the berry from him.

Telemain appeared. "Faratshil!" he exclaimed. Antorell began to disappear quickly, fading away as soon as he had appeared. "Nooooooooooooooooooo!" he shrieked, the sound getting softer and softer as he disappeared, leaving only the staff and berry behind.

"Telemain! You figured it out!" shouted Cimorene, throwing her arms around his neck. Seeing the stunned look on the children's faces, she said, "When you disappeared, we naturally suspected the wizards. So Telemain started immediately, with even more eagerness, at discovering 'the wizard cure'." She smiled wryly. "Apparently, Antorell won't be coming back."

"And I have a staff! And not just any staff, but one that contains probably the largest amount of staff held magic in the world!" said Telemain, even happier than Cimorene.

"You can have mine," offered Zemenar, holding his up for inspection.

"Splendid! Now, I'll just go to the study with these…" Telemain muttered as he walked off, holding the two staffs.

"Just like him," said Morwen. "Going wandering off when you get back. Well, let's go eat, you must be starving…" They all walked off toward the kitchens with Zemenar in tow. It looked like they would be telling this story for a long time.

End of the Last Portion of this Remarkable Series

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